Union dues=greed=loss of job!

Two years ago I loss my job at San Francisco's public access station. That whole scene was degrading and intimidating. Each and everytime I would stick up for myself I would be countered by the belief that lots of other people were losing their jobs so you should too. At no point did the San Francisco Board of Supervisors care to understand that transgender people do NOT get jobs. When they do get them they must hold onto them or they will face homelessness.
That was only the beginning. During the lay-off I had to deal with the EDD and it's corrupt practices. I call it corrupt because I applied for WIA money and was told your kind do NOT get WIA funds, by the representatives at the Job Train in Menlo Park.
I have literally applied for hundreds of jobs, and tried to get help from the Transgender Economic Empowerment Inititiative and JVS, but found both orgs very un-helpful and the counselors very rude. They are non-profits that do not work.
But in December I had the opportunity to get hired by Safeway. I have been working there since, and I had no grocery experience, but all they needed were people to push carts around in the rain.
However months passed and low and behold it was time for me to pay union dues. The job only pays $8.75 an hour, and they only give me 16 hours a week. And working two jobs is nearly impossible because Safeway requires all its employees to have open schedules, which means one week they work you the late shift and the next week they can work you the morning shift. Any request for changes or normalcy to the scheduling is met by hostility from the managers.
So in March I get a very intimidating letter stating that I must contact the Union immediately or face termination. So I did, but what came next was worse than I expected. I must now pay $73 per month in union dues until December 2011 and it will be $37 a month after that. It was like I was getting a car payment. Despite what I was told at hiring, the dues do NOT come out of the checks and you must pay it yourself, so now instead of earning money I am now in debt to some union that has done nothing for me.
The point of my story, I am starving and facing homelessness and I do NOT want to deal with a greedy work union. I will ultimately lose the job because eating and paying rent is more important than feeding a work union.
It is also my opinion that work unions are worthless in this economy.